In a show-stopping second test flight, Blue Origin’s New Glenn stuck the landing and successfully sent NASA’s ESCAPADE mission to Mars on Thursday. These milestones mark the beginning of a new era for Jeff Bezos’ megarocket, establishing it as a strong competitor in the heavy-lift launch market.
However, New Glenn’s 2026-2027 launch manifest will be the true test. Blue Origin is preparing to deliver cargo and crew landers to the lunar surface, launch new hardware to deploy and operate satellites, and expand the Amazon LEO constellation (formerly known as Project Kuiper). These ambitious missions will provide further opportunities for New Glenn to prove itself as a reliable heavy-lift workhorse.
Following the success of Thursday’s launch, New Glenn may soon begin launching national security payloads. The Space Force is now entering the final stages of the review process to provide National Security Space Launch (NSSL) certification to the rocket. Blue Origin currently holds an NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2 award, under which the Space Force plans to tap the company for about seven missions starting in fiscal year 2026.
If you missed Thursday’s launch, here’s a brief recap before we dive into what’s coming up for New Glenn.
The rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at approximately 3:55 a.m. ET. Its ascent burn, stage separation and fairing jettison were all clean as a whistle. After separation, the booster completed a successful re-entry burn and landed intact on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean – the first major accomplishment for Blue Origin. Just before 4:30 p.m. ET, New Glenn deployed NASA’s twin ESCAPADE probes, sending them off on an 11-month-long journey to Mars.
New Glenn eyes the moon
For its next move, New Glenn will launch a prototype Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1) lunar lander. The mission, called “Pathfinder,” is currently scheduled for sometime in January 2026, although Blue Origin’s senior director of civilian space, Jacqueline Cortez, has said the company could launch a MK1 demonstration mission before the end of the year.
MK1 is a cargo lander designed to eventually carry up to 3 tons of payload to the lunar surface. This is an important step forward for the Mk2 crew lander, which NASA has contracted for the Artemis 5 mission.
New Glenn will launch the Mk1 prototype into low-Earth orbit, where it will circle the planet three to four times before maneuvering to enter a more elliptical orbit. After completing another orbit around Earth, the lander will perform another maneuver to adjust its trajectory toward the Moon. It will take about a week to reach the Moon’s orbit and eventually land on the surface.
MK1 will carry a NASA payload called SCALPSS (Stereo Camera for Lunar-Plume Surface Studies). This series of cameras will be placed around the base of the lunar lander to collect photographs during and after the Moon landing, to gather important data to aid future Moon landings and to improve NASA’s understanding of how they affect the lunar surface.
This proof-of-concept mission will be an important step in the development of Mk2, as both landers will share most of the same hardware. New Glenn is scheduled to launch a MK2 prototype sometime in late 2027.
Next stop, satellite deployment
The two missions will also test New Glenn’s ability to reliably deploy satellites for both government and commercial purposes in 2026, although their timing remains uncertain.
The megarocket will launch Firefly’s Elytra Mission 1, which is intended to demonstrate the capabilities of the Elytra spacecraft. This orbital vehicle is designed to operate satellites. The mission will also test Xtenti’s FNTM-RiDE satellite dispenser.
In mid-2026, New Glenn will launch its first batch of Amazon LEO satellites, adding to the current constellation of more than 3,000. Amazon LEO is Bezos’s rival for Elon Musk’s Starlink, which aims to provide global, high-speed broadband internet.
Needless to say, New Glenn will have a very busy year ahead. The success of its most recent test flight has created high expectations for the rocket heading into 2026. We’ll see if this continues to grow.